STRATFORD -- It took a few minutes for the Newtown High boys lacrosse team to get rolling, but once it started, there was no stopping the Nighthawks in Saturday's South-West Conference Division I championship game.

The Nighthawks rallied from a four-goal first-quarter deficit to defeat Brookfield 10-8 and claim its first conference crown since 2011.

"We worked really hard, and I'm glad it paid off in the end," said Newtown senior midfielder Jake Ball. "Lacrosse is a game of runs, and you have to just control the runs as much as possible. Our defense responded hard and held them, and we just fed off the defense."

Brad Kretz scored four goals for Newtown and was named the tournament's Most Valuable player. Ryan Sullivan added two goals and two assists and Ball had a goal and three assists for the second-seeded Nighthawks, who trailed 4-0 after the first quarter.

"We came out and we weren't executing right away," Newtown coach Glenn Adams said. "We talked about valuing the ball. We turned it around in the second quarter and we started to make the plays and value the ball. We knew we had to come out of halftime and win that third quarter. That was going to be huge. We've been a fourth-quarter team pretty much all year, and we knew if we could get through the third quarter and win that quarter, we were going to be in good position toward the end of the game."

Dane Heckmann led Brookfield with four goals and two assists and J.T. Redd added two goals and an assist.

Kretz's second goal of the game tied the score at 5 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter and was part of a pivotal 5-2 Nighthawk run in the third quarter. Newtown entered the fourth quarter with an 8-6 lead and held on from there.

"The fourth quarter we say is usually our quarter," Kretz said. "We knew if we could hold them in the third, we'd be fine in the fourth."

The first quarter, however, belonged to Brookfield. The Bobcats took a 4-0 lead after one quarter, with Heckmann scoring twice and Andrew Collins and Redd each scoring once. Brookfield goalie Danny Dixon made several big saves in the opening minutes to keep Newtown off the board. He robbed Nighthawk Matt Meyers from close range on the first shot of the game, then denied Jared Pearson moments later. Dixon finished with 15 saves.

However, as quickly as the Bobcats built their lead in the first quarter, they saw it all but evaporate in the second quarter. Goals by Clay Gattey, Kretz and Sullivan cut Newtown's deficit to 4-3 at halftime.

"We came into this game ready to play," Brookfield coach Brian Loftus said. "At the beginning, we did what worked, and then we started going away from that. Once the momentum started going in Newtown's favor, it was hard to really bring that back."

Redd scored with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter to put Brookfield up 5-3, but Newtown scored four straight goals in four minutes -- two from Kretz and one each from Deegan Beauchemin and Ball -- to take a 7-5 lead with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter.

Will Lawrence cut the Brookfield deficit to 7-6 with 2:19 to go in the third quarter, but Sullivan answered for Newtown with less than a minute remaining in the quarter.

In the final seconds of the third quarter, with Brookfield setting up in its man-up offense, Newtown defenseman C.J. Dunn intercepted a Brookfield pass and cleared the zone, protecting the Nighthawks' two goal lead heading into the fourth quarter.

With eight minutes remaining, Newtown goalie Jon Rospenda made a big save on Heckmann's shot from close range. Seconds later, however, Heckmann found the back of the net to make it a one-goal game. Kretz, however, answered less than two minutes later to make it 9-7 Nighthawks with 5:45 to go.

Brookfield refused to go quietly, however, and Heckmann scored a man-up goal with 5:12 to go -- Dunn had been whistled for holding -- to make it 9-8 Newtown. The Bobcats came within inches of tying the game when Andrew Collins -- the hero in Brookfield's overtime win in the semifinals -- rang a shot off the goal post.

Newtown's Bubba Condon bounced one home with 3:01 to go to make it 10-8 Newtown, but the Nighthawks were far from out of the woods.

Lawrence rang another shot off the post for Brookfield with 2:30 to go. The Bobcats had one last man-up opportunity when Newtown's Cam Patrick took a late one-minute slashing penalty, but couldn't capitalize. Dunn made another big defensive play to break up a Brookfield possession with less than a minute remaining, and Rospenda stopped Heckmann from close range in the final seconds to seal the win. Rospenda made seven saves to earn the victory.

"Brookfield came out ready to play, and they played a great game," Adams said. "Those guys have had a great season, and it's nice to see them here in the final. I think that was the two best teams in the conference."